Denton Dick Woodward passed away July 15, 2026, in the comfort of his beloved home on the York River.
He was born February 8, 1944, in Newport News, Virginia, and grew up in Naples, Florida. He graduated from the University of Miami in 1968 and earned his medical degree from the University of Miami School of Medicine in 1971. He served his internship at Tampa General/University of South Florida and his residency at Riverside Hospital/Medical College of Virginia, bringing him back to his native state for the rest of his life.
He served in the United States Air Force from 1975 to 1977 at Langley Air Force Base. Dr. Woodward practiced as a radiologist for more than 50 years, working at Chesapeake General Hospital, later as the Director of Radiology for the U.S. Navy’s Sewells Point Clinic, and as a consultant for numerous family practices in the Hampton Roads, VA area. He was awarded Instructor of the Year from the First Colonial Family Practice Residency Program in 1983. He never retired from the work he loved.
He is survived by his wife of over six decades, Elsie Cleaves Woodward; his two children, Donna D Woodward and Denton Dick Woodward, Jr.; his two grandchildren, Anna Fleming Woodward and Ryan Cary Woodward; and his sisters, Janet Woodward Elliott and Joanne Woodward Breen.
Denton was a devoted guardian of animals, with a particular fondness for Rottweilers, the birds, squirrels, and deer that live around his and Elsie’s home.
Services will be private. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that remembrances be made in Denton’s honor to Heritage Humane Society in Williamsburg, VA, or Ring Dog Rescue in Richmond, VA.
